In a major development, the Maharashtra government has extended the redevelopment policy bonanza for old and dilapidated buildings to the suburbs. Under the newly-unveiled housing policy, more than 10,000 old and tenanted building in the suburbs will get an FSI of 3 under modified DCR 33 (7) (a) scheme for redevelopment. Further, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has announced the extension of the cluster redevelopment scheme under DCR 33 (9) to the suburbs.

Under the new scheme, the suburbs will get a chance of better development and amenities. Non-buildable plots can be developed, enabling more open spaces. Currently, both these schemes are applicable only to the island city. It has been a long-pending demand of citizens in the suburbs to extend the schemes to cover them. Thus, under the new policy, every tenant will get at least a 300 sq ft house and a maximum of 753 sq ft house post redevelopment. This policy has been pending for 15 years. The policy also allows for redevelopment of Mhada layouts that are spread over less than 2,000 sq m. These can avail an FSI of 3 and can be redeveloped by paying a premium; the developer will not have to give any additional housing stock to Mhada.

Meanwhile, there is an incentive FSI of 1 that can be availed above the present FSI of 3 under the modified scheme of 33 (5), and in such cases, the developer will have to construct the additional housing stock for Mhada. There are 104 Mhada layouts in the city and 22,000 buildings under these layouts. These policy decisions have been made keeping in mind the government’s Housing for All scheme. Further, the government will rehabilitate the 50,000 people living on airport land not more than 3 km from where they now are.